In June, Documate founder Dorna Moini and Northwestern Law professor Dan Linna issued a challenge to law students: Build an innovative legal technology application to solve a legal problem using the Documate document-automation platform and win $1,000.
Today, the winners of that Law for Everyone Challenge, selected by a panel of independent judges, were announced, with the grand prize going to E-Pikeia, a tool developed by students in Peru that helps women file a suit for alimony or paternity acknowledgement. Here is their app and here is the demo video.
Not only did this team win the challenge, but it has also launched a legal tech company to continue developing the product. In addition to the $1,000 prize, the winning team gets a free Documate Enterprise account.
Two other teams tied for the runner-up slot. One team, FORMidable Solutions, developed the Covid Cancellations DOT Complaint Generator, an app to allow airline passengers to file a DOT complaint to obtain a refund for flights that were cancelled due to COVID-19. (See video.) The team was composed of:
- Ritesh Kotak, National Cybercrime Advisory Council.
- Taylor Bain, University of Ottawa.
- Diane Hwang, University of Ottawa.
- Meredith Ball, University of Ottawa.
The other runner up developed California Courtyard Conspiracy, a guided interview to assist individuals in challenging civil asset forfeiture, the process by which police departments can seize and sell property alleged involved in a crime. (See video.) This team consisted of two students at UCLA Law:
The challenge was open to any law students or recent graduates who were enrolled in the summer Bucerius Legal Tech Essentials 2020 or Passport to Practice programs.
Entrants were judged by a panel that included Linna; Amy Halverson, director of knowledge management, research and information services at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati; and Kathryn DeBord, chief innovation officer at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner.
Judging was based on three criteria:
- Demonstrated understanding of the gap in the legal market, including understanding existing solutions and tools.
- Demonstrated understanding of the legal problem and need.
- Effectiveness, usability, scalability, sustainability, and creativity.
A full list of all the finalists can be found here.